The Turkish Language, Culture and Education Consortium (UK), in partnership with the University of Sakarya, based in Turkey, successfully organised a series of seminars and conferences aimed at Turkish speaking teachers in the UK.
This important initiative was sponsored by the Republic of Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister’s Office. The Consortium is an umbrella body of 34 Turkish language supplementary schools operating in England.
The seminars tackled the issue of teaching of Turkish language to children and young people attending Turkish language and culture schools in England. Many other supplementary schools too are increasingly paying attention to the issue of teaching children the language of their parents, in many cases grand-parents, but not necessarily their first language.
Some of the issues discussed during the week included, teaching Turkish to bilingual children in Europe, the need to use creative resources to maintain children’s interest, basic skills needed in language teaching, the use of bilingual language in the classroom, using cultural values in teaching of Turkish, etc. The value of supplementary schools, and their important role in children’s successes in mainstream education were stressed repeatedly. The need to engage, and educate parents was also emphasised.
The seminars created a huge interest among teachers who teach in Turkish language and culture schools. More than 80 applications were received by the Consortium from teachers, but only around 60 were able to participate. Many participants were qualified teachers, but some did not specialise in the teaching of Turkish. They found the seminars particularly useful.
Contributors to the week comprised of educators, most professors, who specialise in the teaching of Turkish and in bilingual education. Many have had experience in Europe, in UK, Holland, Germany and France. Some are currently actively engaged in work to reform the education system in Turkey.
The Chair of the Turkish Language, Culture and Education Consortium, Kelami Dedezade said that the Consortium was determined to see this only as a start of collaboration between the Sakarya and other Turkish Universities in order to continue the good initiatives the seminars started. He stated that ongoing workshop type events will be initiated in order to continue learning from good practice among supplementary schools from different ethnic minority communities.
The seminars took place between 16 and 22 February at the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre. On Saturday, 22nd , around 60 educators received their attendance certificates at a ceremony attended by the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey, and other dignitaries.
For more information on the seminars and the work of the Consortium, please contact the Secretary, Özlem Öngür at tlce.consortium@gmail.com
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